Sustainable Agricultural Practise

Our tea gardens are mostly located in remote rural areas that do not have many alternative local employment opportunities. The social welfare laws for tea plantation workers in India are the most stringent in the world. Though this has resulted in Indian tea being more costly to produce, it has also contributed to a system which is seen to be fair and in line with good employment practices.





McLeod Russel seeks out and promotes methods of growing tea using sound environmental practices that encourage bio-diversity and healthy soils.We practice respect for the earth without formal organic certification. We also practise soil and water conservation through Best Practice field management systems and these include composting, soil rehabilitation and reforestation.

McLeod Russel was the first Indian company to initiate an Uprooting & Replanting programme in the early 1990's. Our Company saw that, to optimise output (Yield) of a section, the age of the bush was a critical factor.Through careful planning and management we have, for more than a decade, maintained our leading Industry position for yields and standards and as a result have planted for the future of Tea in the region.

It is with pleasure that we now see the industry following our lead and initiating replanting programmes, so ensuring a sound future for the people of the region.To comply with the legal requirement of supplying every household with a 'Fire Wood' ration, McLeod Russel initiated the use of providing our employees with uprooted tea bushes, rather than allow further destruction of the region's forests with the consequential impact on the environment.

Again this too has been mirrored by the industry to the benefit of all.

Rain Water Harvesting

Groundwater constitutes approximately 89% of the total fresh water on the plant. However in recent years, due to over usage and the erratic nature of the seasonal monsoons, this essential natural resource has been depleted across all of India.

The state of Assam is especially vulnerable to climatic irregularities and the annual monsoons are critical to the well being of the state and its population. Soil varieties, such as sandy loam, make for fertile agro-land but have a tendency to suffer drought with erratic rainfall.

Groundwater is the primary source of water for drinking and irrigation. It provides a unique resource, widely available, providing security against droughts and yet is closely linked to surface water resources and the hydrological cycle.

Population and economic growth have placed great pressures on these resources and the rapid expansion of the Assam state is likely to reducing the sub-surface water table, so removing an essential element to life and food security for so many people.McLeod Russel has begun an exercise to reverse this trend by harvesting rain water, captured from roof tops, to recharge the groundwater levels on our estates.

At Tarajulie Tea Estate the first trials have begun to create a sustainable groundwater policy for the betterment of the entire estate. By capturing rain water from the factory roofs we are able to channel this water, being filtered by the modular filtration system, to the bored deep tube wells and recharge the sub-surface water levels in the surrounding area. Also drain water has also been diverted to the through modular filtration system to recharge the bored deep tube well in the field which gets exhausted by irrigation during winter months.

Rural Development

McLeod Russel has donated land and buildings on our tea gardens for public infrastructure projects such as the Police station, local college, bus stop and water treatment plant on Hunwal Tea estate.

Vermicomposting Scheme

As part of McLeod Russel's continued belief in creating a sustainable Agro Policy we have initiated an environmentally friendly scheme of composting organic matter by use of earthworms.

Vermiculture or Vermicomposting is derived from the Latin term 'vermis', meaning worms. Vermicomposting is essentially the consumption of organic material by earthworms.

For centuries, earthworms have been used as a means of decomposing wastes and improving soil structure. The breeding and propagation of earthworms and the use of its casting has become an important method of waste recycling throughout world.

Increasing numbers of businesses worldwide are successfully employing vermiculture technology as an excellent soil conditioner and McLeod Russel has taken this sustainable practise to benefit our tea gardens, our environment and to reduce our chemical footprint.

Advantages of Vermicomposting:

• Vermicompost is an ecofriendly natural fertilizer prepared from biodegradable organic waster and is free from chemical inputs
• It does not have any adverse effect on soil, plant and environment
• It improves soil aeration, texture and tilth thereby reducing soil compaction
• It improves water retention capacity of soil because of its high organic matter content
• It improves better root growth and nutrient absorption
• It improves nutrient status of soil - both macro-nutrients and micro-nutrients